One Time Special Event Today! 10/28 NOON PST

As some of you noticed, we have published the time of the special event which will occur on Sunday, October the 28th at 12:00 PM Pacific Time/19:00 GMT.

On the holiday team, we are fully aware of the fact that not everyone can be logged into the game at specific time. We’re also aware that people live in different time zones, and those times can potentially fall on different calendar days. This is why each act is a phase, or a period of time, rather than a moment in time.

The one major exception is the beginning of Act 3, which is something that I think most people will want to be around to see. The choice of 12:00 PM Pacific Time/19:00 GMT on Sunday was a very informed, calculated decision. It was primarily based on the fact that it’s pretty much the peak of our weekly concurrency, which means it satisfies the highest possible percentage of our users. It also means that it’s the same calendar date whether you’re American or European.

For those of you wondering, having the event at separate times for separate zones is actually one of the worst options. Whatever happens is going to be on livestreams instantly and then on YouTube about five minutes later. At least this way, everyone has a chance to experience it in the game, without having it spoiled by the rapid availability of video on the Internet.

Got in with my group on the first attempt, only to have the King refuse to take part and just stand invulnerable at the start.
We disbanded and reformed, only for the group to be split across two separate dungeons. My dungeon had the boss bugged again, but in the other dungeon the guys managed to faceroll him with just two players. They even managed to loot some crappy greens too
Disbanded again, and have given up even trying to zone in to the dungeon.

Is there a time scale on this? I wasn't able to zone into the dungeon with a group [even when we waited to go from our homeworld, not overflow], and the whole 'one off' thing makes me think it might not be here tomorrow

Seems they decided to make it "happen" for those for which the event bugged too. So, even if you won't see the fountain exploding, if you go to Lion's Arch and sit there for a while, the Mad King will pop out and laugh at everyone. It did for me on my level 8 character.